3D printing magnesium-doped wollastonite/β-TCP bioceramics scaffolds with high strength and adjustable degradation

Abstract

Mechanical strength of bioceramic scaffolds is a problem to treat the load bearing bone defects. We developed the Mg-doping wollastonite (CSi-Mg)-based scaffolds with high strength via 3D printing technology. The effect of pore size, β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) content (x%), and heating schedule on the strength of scaffolds were investigated systematically. Incorporation of β-TCP could readily adjust the sintering properties of the CSi-Mg scaffolds and the scaffolds with high (20~30%) and low (10~20%) β-TCP possess much high strength (80~100 MPa or 120~140 MPa) after undergoing one-or two-step sintering. Meanwhile, the CSi-Mg/TCPx (x=10, 20) with medium-pore (~320 µm) had over 100 MPa in compression and ~52% in porosity. In particular, the composite scaffolds maintained appreciable strength (over 50 MPa) after immersion in Tris buffer for a long time stage (6 weeks). These findings demonstrate that the CSi-Mg/TCPx scaffolds are promising for treating some challengeable bone defects, especially for load-bearing bone repair.

Effects of poly (ε-caprolactone) coating on the properties of three-dimensional printed porous structures

“…Additional concentration levels below the upper limit were selected at equal intervals. Two recent studies assessed the potential for coating tissue engineered scaffolds using PCL/chloroform solutions (Zulkifli et al, 2014;Shao et al, 2016). In these studies, 2.5 min and 10 min were used as the immersion times.…”

“…In these studies, 2.5 min and 10 min were used as the immersion times. To investigate the optimum immersion period for scaffolds to be coated with PCL -an extended range of immersion times was selected, which ranged from a relatively short period (30 s) to a prolonged period (30 min) compared to the previous studies (Zulkifli et al, 2014;Shao et al, 2016). The second PCL layer was applied onto each porous structure by repeating the same procedure as described for the first layer.…”

Influence of Alkali Treatment on Anodized Titanium Alloys in Wollastonite Suspension

“…It was reported that wollastonite and pseudowollastonite show a high bioactivity in the simulated body environment [43]. Thus, this kind of ceramic is considered as an excellent material for formation scaffolds and other composite materials which offers advancements in bone repair [24,44]. However, in our previous paper, we showed that wollastonite particles can be successfully incorporated into the porous oxide layer during the anodizing process [18,19].…”

Recent developments in 3D printable composite materials

“…Using this printable material, highly resolved objects with improved compressive strength could be produced with inkjet printing. 38 In addition to mechanical strength, biodegradability 41 and controlled bioactivity are other important concerns when developing materials for the fabrication of scaffolds with potential to stimulate bone regeneration, cell proliferation or combat infection. [18][19][20][21][22] Such biological properties of scaffolds can be enhanced by the addition of appropriate fillers into the matrix powder.…”